New Exoplanet Discovered, May Have Necessary Conditions For Life

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The Daily Wire (who should know better)

Hank Berrien

Sep 7, 2022

According to scientists, images from the SPECULOOS (‘Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) telescopes, located in Chile and the island of Tenerife, have indicated that a distant planet may harbor the necessary conditions for life.

The planet LP 890-9c orbits the star, LP 890-9, which rests 100 light-years from Earth. 40% larger than Earth,  LP 890-9c orbits LP 890-9 roughly every 8.5 days, which was confirmed by the MuSCAT3 instrument in Hawaii. Scientists believe that fact permits the supposition that the planet exists in the “habitable zone” around the star.

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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may be utilized to confirm whether LP 890-9c can be termed habitable. JWST is also studying three of the earth-sized planets surrounding the star TRAPPIST-1, which were discovered in 2017 by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope along with four other exoplanets circling the star. Those seven planets comprised the most exoplanets found in the habitable zone of a single star.

Trappist-1 was discovered to be an ultra-cool red dwarf star much smaller than Earth’s sun. The planet Trappist 1e is considered the most likely exoplanet to contain the necessary conditions for life.

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Probability Estimate for Attaining the Necessary Characteristics for a Life Support Body[//b]

Spoiler Alert

1 in 10 to the 282nd power...Against. aka Ain't Gonna Happen.

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Are Earth-like Planets Common?

Dr. Michael G Strauss

March 10, 2018

It seems that every few months newspaper and magazine headlines will declare something like "Scientists have discovered an Earth-like planet." Such headlines probably lead the reader to imagine a planet with an environment much like we see on Star Trek or Star Wars where we could land our spaceship, take off our spacesuit, and frolic around the countryside. But what do scientists mean when they say that they have discovered an "Earth-like" planet? How likely is it to find a planet that can support higher life forms (defined as anything more complex than bacteria)? Are planets like the earth common or rare? Let's explore the answers to these questions.

When scientists say that an Earth-like planet may have been discovered, they actually mean one of three things. Either (1) the planet is in such an orbit around its central star that allows the temperature on the planet to possibly harbor liquid water, or (2) the planet is about the same size as the earth, or (3) the planet is solid and rocky rather than gaseous. Of course any one of these criteria, or even all three, does not actually give us a true Earth-like planet. We know that our moon is in the correct location to contain liquid water, but it is not "Earth-like." We know Venus is about the size of the earth, but it is not "Earth-like." We know that Mercury is rocky and not gaseous, but it is not "Earth-like." So none of these criteria really give an Earth-like planet. Headlines and sound-bites are not meant to be precise but to draw attention, and it is much more exciting to proclaim an "Earth-like" planet has been found rather than a "Venus-like" planet (if even that could be claimed).
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Is There Life Out There? Another Step Toward Its Improbability

Dr. Michael G Strauss

June 23 2019

It seems that much of the current research in astrophysics and space science is focused on the search for extraterrestrial life. Whether we are sending probes to Mars, searching for extra-solar planets, or looking for water on moons and planets in our solar system, a major goal of these efforts is discovering environments that are suitable for life, or even finding evidence of life itself. The question of whether or not other life exists is not only an important scientific question, but maybe even a philosophical, sociological, psychological, and theological question as well.

Much of the search for extraterrestrial life has centered on whether or not a planet or moon is in an orbit that permits its surface to retain liquid water. The presence of liquid water is certainly one of the most important requirements for complex life. If a planet's location is too close the star it orbits then it will be too hot and water will boil away, and if a planet is too far from the star, all the water will freeze. The habitable zone is the region in which the planet's orbit is just the right distance from the star to harbor liquid water on its surface.

Of course, life requires much more than simply liquid water; a fact that is often not acknowledged in the search for extraterrestrial life. When scientists claim that they might have found an "earth-like" planet they mean one of three things: either the planet (1) is in the habitable zone, (2) is about the same size as earth, or (3) is a rocky planet and not gaseous. A cursory glance at this list should alert any reader not to take too seriously the claim that scientists may have found another earth-like planet. After all, Mars is in the habitable zone, Venus is about the same size as earth, and Mercury is rocky, but none of those planets have the necessary characteristics for supporting complex life. The latter two are inhospitable to life of any kind.
 

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Apr 26, 2022 About this event We’ve discovered many planets orbiting other stars with sizes similar to our own Earth. But size alone does not birth a home world. How did the Earth become habitable, and what does this mean for finding another planet capable of hosting life? In this talk, we will take a look at our own past and how we might unpick the beginnings of life from missions such as Japan's Hayabusa2, before zooming away from our Solar System to what we have discovered about planets around other Suns and how we might determine if any of them could be a home for our neighbours.

Prof Elizabeth Tasker is an astrophysicist and science communicator at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Her research focusses on computer simulations of star and planet formation, and she is part of the global public outreach team on JAXA missions such as Hayabusa2 and MMX. Tasker's popular science book, ’The Planet Factory’, was published by Bloomsbury Publishing House in 2017, and she is a writer for the NASA NExSS ‘Many Worlds’ blog.

 

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